


Lazy Sunday

by madsthenerdygirl



Series: Merlin Memory Month '18 [8]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 17:47:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14141256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsthenerdygirl/pseuds/madsthenerdygirl
Summary: Merlin loves lazy Sundays, and also Arthur.





	Lazy Sunday

**Author's Note:**

> For the ninth and final prompt of Merlin Memory Month. Combines all four prompts: "In life you always have a choice, sometimes it's easier to think that you don't," to love and/or being loved, playful, and established relationship.
> 
> Update: This story has now been translated into Chinese! Read the translation here: http://ningmengpianjiami.lofter.com/post/1caddd73_128e7c21

Lazy Sundays were the best.

Merlin stretched, feeling the warm sunbeams streaming in from the open window. Spring had finally arrived, thank God. Merlin loved winter, just like he loved all the seasons, but Arthur easily got restless. He was a summer person, through and through, loved camping and going on hikes and swimming out in the lake.

There was movement at Merlin’s feet and then a tiny furry head popped out from under the blankets. Merlin smiled.

“C’mere, Aithusa,” he cooed, picking up their tiny white kitten. He dangled his fingers in front of her, chuckling as she swiped at them. Kilgarrah, Merlin’s older cat, was getting on in years and now preferred to just stretch out in front of the fire. It was nice to have a playful kitten around the house again.

Of course, according to Morgana, Aithusa was still her cat. Just because she now lived with Merlin because of Leon’s allergies didn’t change anything in Morgana’s eyes.

“Who’s the prettiest little furball?” Merlin cooed, indulging in some baby talk. “Is it you? Yes it is, yes it is!”

“If you talk to her like that you’ll spoil her,” Arthur grumbled. He was curled away from Merlin but that didn’t seem to stop him from knowing exactly what his boyfriend was up to.

“I think Arthur is grumpy this morning,” Merlin told Aithusa. She purred at him. “Yes, I think he needs kitten cuddles too.”

Arthur rolled over to face him, giving a jaw-cracking yawn and blinking his eyes open sleepily. “Wha’ time izzit?”

Merlin glanced at the clock. “Nine.” Normally they both had to be up much sooner, Merlin to head to the sanctuary and Arthur to Camelot HQ. But on Sundays, they got to sleep in. They could stay in bed all day if they wanted to.

Arthur held out his hand for Aithusa. “C’mere.”

Merlin handed her over happily, watching as she curled up against Arthur’s chest and began to purr. Merlin could feel his heart swelling as he gazed at the two of them. Arthur looked so relaxed and peaceful.

There was a time when Merlin had been convinced that nothing would get Arthur to relax. They’d known each other since university when they’d been assigned as roommates freshman year, and had been inseparable ever since. Merlin hadn’t known what it would take to get Arthur to stop being so tense.

After five years of knowing each other, Merlin had finally learned part of why: Arthur was bi.

“I have to marry a girl, though,” he’d said, giving Merlin hope and then taking it away all in the span of a few seconds. Merlin had thought he’d been hopelessly in love with his straight best friend all these years. To know that there was a chance… only to learn that Arthur would never give either of them that chance, that he’d decided his future already.

“Why?” Merlin had demanded, probably with more heat than was necessary.

“As if my dad will have it any other way,” Arthur had replied. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Merlin. It’s not like I have a choice.”

“In life you always have a choice,” Merlin had snapped. “Sometimes it’s just easier to think that you don’t.”

They hadn’t spoken for a few weeks. Merlin had even started to fear that their friendship was over, that he had pushed too far, asked for too much. Then Arthur had shown up at his doorstep, looking exhausted.

“You were right,” was all he said before he was kissing Merlin, yanking Merlin to him like Merlin would try to run away or something.

It hadn’t always been easy. They’d kept their relationship a secret for a long time. Arthur’s issues with Uther ran deep and his sexuality was only part of it, but to bring up one issue would inevitably bring up all of them. So they’d hidden it, which had been far from fun, lying to everyone, going behind people’s backs, making excuses.

There’d been a lot of fights. And a lot of angry sex. And a lot of makeup sex, too. Merlin had sometimes wondered if he was only hurting them both by staying, if this was always how it was going to be.

But then he’d look at Arthur, and see that raw, aching look in Arthur’s eyes and know that Arthur loved him. And being that in love, feeling that loved in return… he couldn’t give that up.

The fight that had happened when Arthur had finally told Uther was immense. Gwen had cried, and she’d just overheard some of it. Morgana had declared herself fully on Arthur’s side and that had just led to a three-way argument between Arthur, who refused to let Morgana fight his battles for him, Morgana, who was standing her ground, and Uther, who was now yelling about having two ungrateful children.

Merlin hadn’t slept for a week while all that was going on.

After the fight, though, and the subsequent cold shoulder that had followed, things had… been getting better. Uther was actually acknowledging Merlin’s existence again, for one thing.

Things between him and Arthur, though, they had never been better. It was like this huge weight had been lifted off of Arthur’s shoulders. He laughed more freely, smiled more easily, relaxed more visibly.

It was beautiful.

And now they got their lazy Sunday mornings, and dinner at Gwen and Lancelot’s house later, and no responsibilities in between.

“Do you remember when we first kissed?” Arthur asked.

Merlin started a little, surprised that Arthur’s mind was wandering down the same track as his. “Yeah. I was just thinking about it, actually.”

Arthur smiled up at him, idly playing with Aithusa’s paws. “I was so scared. Probably not my smoothest moment. I’m usually much better at romance.”

Merlin adopted a thoughtful look. “Are you? You sure about that?”

“If one of us is romantic it’s me, _Mer_ lin, you wouldn’t know romance if it clocked you over the head.”

“I don’t know…” Merlin faked thinking about it. “Have you ever done anything romantic for me?”

Arthur carefully setting Aithusa out of the way should have been a clue, but Merlin was honestly taken aback when Arthur pounced at him.

“Cheater!” Merlin gasped, twisting away from Arthur’s twitching fingers. The bastard _knew_ he was horribly ticklish. “You’re a dirty, rotten—”

Arthur kissed him, deep and sudden, and Merlin was an easy, helpless person in the face of Arthur’s kisses and could only relax into it, sighing happily as Arthur’s touches became more assured, sliding up his ribs and chest and then back down again.

“Can we just stay in bed all day?” Merlin asked, hitching his leg up over Arthur’s and rocking up into him.

Arthur’s eyelids fluttered, and Merlin grinned, knowing he’d won. “Maybe not… all day,” he replied, but he rocked his hips back down to meet Merlin’s.

“Just a little longer then,” Merlin gasped, shuddering as he found the right angle.

Arthur braced himself over Merlin, increasing the rhythm just enough. Perhaps normally Merlin would stop, tell Arthur to grab the lube and do this properly, but this was lazy Sunday. This was for the teasing, almost-there-but-not-enough grind of cocks against one another, kissing sloppily as it felt like Merlin’s body was being stretched and morphed into molasses, everything falling away until Arthur finally lost patience and took them both in hand, helping them get that last bit of perfect pressure to finish them off.

“We’ve made a horrible mess,” Arthur muttered into the skin of Merlin’s neck, where he had helpfully collapsed.

“We can put the sheets in before we go to Gwen and Lance’s,” Merlin replied. He ran his hand over Arthur’s back, tracing an idle pattern into the skin there. “Shower?” He suggested. If he didn’t get Arthur up now, the big lunk would fall asleep on top of him.

Arthur hummed. “Good idea.”

They spent an hour in the shower, soaking up the warm spray and each other. Merlin gave Arthur a wink and sank down onto his knees, grinning at Arthur’s surprised, gaping expression.

“And you say I can’t surprise you anymore.”

“I didn’t say that,” Arthur replied. “I said—oh fuck.”

Merlin pulled back and looked up at him, blinking innocently. “You said ‘oh fuck’?”

Arthur just growled at him and Merlin, laughing, went back to work, tonguing underneath the foreskin and lapping around the head until Arthur was practically begging him to stop teasing and get on with it. Merlin obliged him then, sucking him down until Arthur was grabbing his hair and making tiny, aborted movements with his hips, making a mess of Merlin’s throat and face.

“You’re a menace,” Arthur informed him, but Merlin just laughed, even as Arthur spun him around against the cool tiles and kissed up his spine, sliding his hand down and circling his rim. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Merlin couldn’t say he minded paying for that, not in the slightest, even as his laughter turned into moans and he became the one begging, three slick fingers instead of him, Arthur finally taking pity on him and sliding a hand around his front to stroke him there too.

“We’re horrible environmentalists,” Merlin told him later, as they dried off. “We just wasted so much water.”

“I told you, Merlin, it’s the corporations that we need to change, they waste a hundred times more and do far more damage to the environment, if we’re going to stop climate change then we need to get at them—”

“That doesn’t mean we still can’t do our parts—”

They bickered good-naturedly downstairs, where Merlin stopped.

The kitchen table was already set. Some pancakes were being kept warm on the stove along with some bacon and eggs.

“But…” Merlin turned to look at Arthur, confused. “I got up before you did.”

“You’re a much heavier sleeper than you think,” Arthur replied, smiling. “I got up at eight and you were dead to the world. Made all this, came back to bed, you woke up ten minutes later.”

Merlin turned and stared at the breakfast. He was going to thank Arthur for it, knowing Arthur had given up one of his sleep-in days for this—when he saw something on one of the plates.

“Arthur,” he croaked, his throat suddenly very dry. “Is that…?”

It was a small, black velvet box.

“Go on.” Arthur’s voice was soothing, gentle. “Open it.”

Merlin stumbled forward, picking up the box and opening it.

The ring inside was simple, silver, with a Celtic knot.

“I thought about doing something big,” Arthur said, coming up behind him. “But then I thought, well, this isn’t supposed to be about one day, is it? It’s supposed to be about the rest of our lives. And I want the rest of our lives to be just like this.”

Merlin turned, staring into Arthur’s eyes. Arthur smiled, a little bit of that old fear creeping into his eyes. “Merlin. I love you. Long before I knew how to say it. You’ve been patient with me, even when I didn’t deserve it, and you’ve been my best friend even before you were my lover. You once told me... that we always had a choice, even though we liked to think that we didn't. And I choose this. I choose you. Will you marry me?”

For a moment, Merlin couldn’t even breathe. Then he smiled helplessly, stupidly, and held out the box. “Put it on me.”

Arthur’s face lit up and he carefully took the ring out of the box, sliding it onto Merlin’s finger.

Merlin’s breath hitched. “I’ll have to get you one, too.”

“Of course.” Arthur faltered a little. “Do you—you don’t mind, that it’s not more elaborate?”

“When have I ever wanted elaborate?” Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck, pressing them together. “I’ve only ever wanted you.”

He kissed the smile off of Arthur’s face until Aithusa nearly tripped them up by winding between their legs, mewing for her breakfast and then Kilgarrah started doing the same from his post on the windowsill, and they had to break apart, laughing.

This was how the rest of his life was going to go, Merlin thought. This was going to be every Sunday.

He couldn’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this is super sappy. Please forgive me. After all the angst I put you guys through with these prompts, I thought we all deserved some major fluff.


End file.
